Page 54 of Offside and Off-Limits
I steal one final glance at Clara. She’s now setting up her camera, and all I can do is hope she’s blissfully unaware that she’s the reason I just performed an unintentional aerial routine.
A few moves—and thankfully a goal on my behalf—later and Coach has us lined up dishing out individual feedback.
“Lennox, you need to be locked in every second you’re on the ice,” he says, and there’s a rumble of laughter from the team.
“Won’t happen again, Coach,” I say,notlooking in Clara’s direction. Which is hard because she looks so dang good, this time her skirt hitting just above her knees, and man, her legs are long and slim and perfect.
But I can’t lose focus just because the girl I’ve got feelings for has walked in. That’sneverhappened to me before. Not even once. And I’ve had plenty of women I’ve been involved with watching my games.
But then I guess I’ve never felt this way about someone before, and I’ve got no clue how to deal with it.
The old me would have seduced Clara by now. Gotten her out of my system. But the thing is, I don’t want Clara out of my system.
And the thought makes something move in my chest.
“Clara here wants to film some trick shots for social media,” he says, gesturing at her. “Clara? What did you have in mind?”
“Thanks, Coach Hauser, and it’s great to see you all again,” she begins, a spot of feminine beauty amongst all the sweat and testosterone.
“Some of us are falling over, we’re so happy to see you. Isn’t that right, Lennox?” Weston says, winning laughs from the team—and a glare from me.
Sonotfunny.
Clara’s eyes dart between me and Weston, but to her credit, she doesn’t bite. Hope springs that she doesn’t know I took a fall because of her.
“I’m here to film some trick shots, as you know, but first I want to take the opportunity to talk about the Drench for Defense coming up at the farmers’ market this weekend. Thank you to Weston, Carson, Asher, and Cade for volunteering for it so far. If anyone else wants to join, please let me know today. The more the merrier when it comes to this kind of event, and the more money we can raise to save the town, the better.”
“I guess I should do it as team captain,” Jamie says.
“Thank you, Jamie! Having the captain will be an amazing addition,” Clara replies. “Now, you’ll be glad to know I don't plan on taking too much of your time today, but I do have a full team trick shot series I've got in mind. It's called a domino derby.”
“I know those. You start with one guy who does a trick shot and then passes to the next who does another until we've done the whole team across,” Lucian says.
“You got it,” Clara replies. “Sound okay to you guys?”
Some of the guys shrug, some grunt, and a couple reply with “sure.”
“Loving that enthusiasm,” she says with a dollop of sarcasm.
“Ms. Johnson isn't doing this for fun, men. This will help get new fans, and a new team in the League needs new fans. Isn't that correct?” Coach says.
“Coach Hauser is absolutely right, and trick shots are trending right now on social media, so I’d love all your help,” she says.
“You got it,” I say, knowing I’ll get endless ribbing in the locker room after. “Right, guys?”
My team murmurs their agreement, and Clara throws me a grateful smile.
Worth it.
“All right. Let's go ahead with the full team, and then if there’s anyone who would like to stick around to do some individual trick shots, that would be awesome.”
“I know one person who’ll wanna stick around,” Weston says, and several of the team snort with laughter.
“Ah, l’amour,” Clément adds, his hand on his heart, and I shove his shoulder.
To her credit, Clara glosses over it, acting totally professional as she organizes us into a line across the ice. For someone so small, she’s surprisingly skilled at bossing us big guys around.
We pass the puck between us, and she takes us through a practice run of her domino derby before she begins to film.
